Google goes to the mat for privacy

Google lashed out at the U.S. Justice Department on Friday, saying that a high-profile request for a list of a week’s worth of search terms must not be granted because it would disclose trade secrets and violate the privacy rights of its users.

If the U.S. Justice Department is successful in obtaining a week’s worth of search terms from Google, which it demanded as part of an attempt to defend a 1998 Internet pornography law, a second round of subpoenas is shaping up to be far more intrusive.

The American Civil Liberties Union warned Friday that if the first subpoena is granted–giving the government’s expert the information to use to evaluate the effectiveness of porn filters–the ACLU’s legal assault on the same antipornography law will require it to target Google as well.